By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) has formed a specialised taskforce to target those who looted a grounded container barge in Abaco last week, with six people now in custody.

Deputy Police Commissioner Kirkwood Andrews confirmed the additional arrests yesterday, adding that several items have also been recovered. Two of the arrests were made on the barge Friday, while the other four were taken into custody on Sunday

“The task force, we’ve been investigating and questioning those persons in custody and will see where this investigation takes us,” he told The Tribune yesterday, adding that police intend to pursue everyone involved.

Asked yesterday what message he had for those reluctant to return looted items for fear of prosecution, DCP Andrews said he would not promise protection but urged anyone with concerns about items in their possession to still reach out to police.

The grounded barge, The Brooklyn Bridge, quickly became the centre of attention last week after brazen daylight raids sparked wild scenes and prompted a police investigation.

Trailer Bridge, the US-based operator, said an estimated 90 percent of containers were compromised following the barge’s grounding on a reef near Nunjack Cay.

The company later criticised police for what it described as a slow response, while dismissing claims that residents were invited aboard to help or to “lighten the load,” calling them “entirely false.”

National Security Minister Wayne Munroe, however, pushed back against the criticism, calling the owners “ungrateful” while defending the police’s operation.

He said authorities mobilised once it became clear the Brooklyn Bridge barge had been left unsecured by its owners, ultimately arresting two men found on the vessel.

He likened the situation to abandoning a shopping mall without security and said the government redirected limited patrol assets usually assigned to anti-poaching and migrant-interdiction duties to secure private property after it was left vulnerable.

“The owners of this thing are ungrateful,” he said. “To basically redirect one vessel to secure personal property that the owner could have put security guards on, is something that the state did at great expense in terms of manpower,” he said, adding: “That comes at a cost.”